Ollie - 30 July 2013

Ollie is becoming more normal as the days pass, which is a huge relief for us all. He no longer cringes away when you pat his head, he can sit and wait nicely, and he is getting very good at coming when he is called. He still likes to run towards every dog he sees, but he will now return to me when I get too far away from him. He knows he's supposed to stay with his pack and he likes following me. He will take treats politely and share food with his friends.

He also seems to have overcome his car sickness, which I am very happy about because I no longer have to clean up dog sick from the floor of the van every day. He continues to be very social and gentle with other dogs, and makes friends easily.

On Sunday we took him to a friend's house who lives out near Warragul. There was a big barbeque with lots of people. He quickly became best mates with my friend's 12 week old puppy and they spent a long time rolling around and playfighting in the long grass together. The puppy was too rough and hung off his neck with its teeth, but he tolerated it very well. Later on he let people pat him and took scraps of food from them. He hung around the people who were standing on the deck chatting, and sat at their feet. I was very impressed with him and pleased to see that he didn't need a safe place to hide.

Ollie - 18 July 2013

Today we taught Ollie to sit. It was difficult.

We usually feed him his meals by hand and use globs of stinky food to get him used to being touched and patted. It took a long time to teach him "SIT" because at first he was too nervous to focus on the food and kept running away when the command was given.
You could say it in any tone of voice, he just did not understand the concept of a command. He also hated it when we tried to gently push his bottom down and would jump away scared and run back to his crate.

This stumped us for a while. How could we make him focus on the food hand without fear? We solved the problem by smearing smelly wet dog food all over my left hand and using that hand to try to push his bottom down (we had to wash him afterwards). My right hand would hold food in front of his face. We repeated this several times. With each repetition his panic and attempt to hide would become more half hearted as his hunger got the better of him.

Soon he learned that the left hand was not scary and was actually lickable and delicious. When I washed the smelly goop off my left hand, he began ignoring it and started focusing on my right hand. I used my left hand to tap his bottom, giving the "SIT" command and rewarding him with food when he sat. He only needed a slight touch from my left hand to remember what he was supposed to do. From that point it took about 5 minutes before he could sit on command, always with a reward. We told him he was clever, and he was very pleased with himself.

He is a surprisingly smart dog, he learns quickly but is very difficult to motivate because of his fear of new and unknown situations. Every day he gets a little bit braver and easier to handle. We are learning a lot from him, he forces us to think outside the box with every interaction.

Ollie - 16 July 2013

Ollie is making very good progress. Today he didn't run so far away and he returned to the pack more regularly. He's beginning to learn how to come when he's called, and when he returns he lies down and willingly accepts a pat on the head, occasionally even rolling over for a belly rub. He seems to like being told he's a good boy, and he even briefly let a few strangers pat him. He prefers being patted on the back rather than on the head. He is very happy being amongst his friends and is always very friendly and tolerant to other dogs.

He still doesn't like being touched spontaneously, but if you tell him you want to pat him he will usually allow it. He's very well housetrained and will whine and scratch at the front door when he needs to go to the toilet. If we can eliminate his fearful behaviour and find a solid way of motivating him in order to train him, he will make a very good pet.

Ollie - 11th July 2013

Ollie is not cowering every time we try to pat him. He doesn't seem to enjoy it but he doesn't run away. He doesn't mind it too much when we pat both him and Tashi at the same time. We have been hand feeding him every night as well.
Yesterday we took Ollie for what might be his first time to the beach.
In the park  and beach he follows for a little while but will run off to any other dog he sees. Sometimes he just chooses a direction to go. He doesn't take notice of where the rest of the pack is. He will quite happily wander off by himself. Eventually he does wander close enough to our pack for us to take him home. At the moment he is not motivated by food, pats or toys. We still need to figure this one out.
Ollie seems to have stiff back legs which causes him some discomfort. He likes to run around with other dogs so it might just be a sprain.

Ollie - 9th July 2013

Ollie is making lots of progress. Last night he sat in the middle of the room at Nanny's house. This was the first time he met the family. He lay down and almost had a snooze after making sure, by looking at Tashi, that everything was alright. 

Today Ollie was good in the park with the other dogs. He is getting more responsive to our voices and presence. He will now look at us when he comes whereas yesterday he just looked at the other dogs. He also comes back when we call him after he meets other dogs.  Not instantly but it is progress.
He doesn't immediately cringe when strangers try to pat him. Though he won't go too near them if there is no dogs nearby.

Judging by the progress he is making, we think Ollie will be ready for adoption in no time.

Ollie - 8th July 2013

Last night we collected our new foster dog, Ollie, who is a human shy 11 months old Staffy.
He gets along fine with Tashi and came on a couple of walks with us today. He loves other dogs and goes up to meet them confidently. He gets a little car sick and just sits on the floor of the car.